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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about West Kill (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for West Kill. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for West Kill ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for West Kill: W. Kill

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

West Kill is located in Greene County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Greene County: Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Rensselaer, Schoharie & Ulster.

Below are the counties that are near West Kill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Kill:

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to West Kill, see our County-by-County Page for West Kill.

Cemeteries Near West Kill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Kill.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for West Kill covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Kill, with the one closest to West Kill listed first.

  • West Kill Community Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • West Kill Methodist Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Schermerhorn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Schermerhorn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Schermerhorn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Parker Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Parker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Parker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lexington Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lexington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lexington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elk Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Deyo Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Deyo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Deyo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Deyoe Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Spruceton Methodist Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Gass Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gass Family Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gass Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chase Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chase Family Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chase Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Halcott Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Halcott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Halcott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (318 more) ...
    • Crosby Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crosby Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crosby Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jewett Heights Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jewett Heights Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jewett Heights Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Maplewood Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maplewood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maplewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that West Kill had a population of 198 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from West Kill, with the one closest to West Kill listed first.

  • Lexington
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Spruceton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Jewett Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Halcott Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halcott Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halcott Center
    • Halcott Center is located in Greene County
  • Red Falls
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Highmount
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Shandaken
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Allaben
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Allaben have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allaben
    • Allaben is located in Ulster County
  • Jewett
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Pine Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Hill
    • Pine Hill is located in Ulster County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pine Hill <1>
  • Big Indian
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Prattsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prattsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prattsville
    • Prattsville is located in Greene County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prattsville <1>
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Ashland
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
      • Ashland is located in Greene County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashland <1>
    • Fleischmanns
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fleischmanns have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleischmanns
      • Fleischmanns is located in Delaware County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 308 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fleischmanns <1>
    • Lanesville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lanesville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanesville
      • Lanesville is located in Greene County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lanesville <1>

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around West Kill. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Kill.

Newspapers Published in West Kill ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Kill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Kill, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Kill.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to West Kill:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for West Kill. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Kill) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Kill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2089, Longitude: -74.3883    
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about West Kill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025